Olympics - standout moments for women and girls

The Olympics are over for another four years. Here are some moments to remember and, sadly, some to forget.

Gender parity at the Paris Olympics

ICYMI, the Paris Olympics were the first to have an equal split of male and female athletes. Some nations, such as Australia, actually sent more women than men. There may have been gender parity amongst the athletes but not the BTS staff such as coaches, physio therapists, doctors and the like. There’s still work to be done but a 50/50 split of men and women athletes is something to celebrate.

Image: Xavier Praillet via Unsplash

Showing emotion

Andrea Spendolini-Sirieix’s emotional interview after her competition was one of many moments during the Games where we saw athletes’, both men’s and women’s, vulnerability. They may seem superhuman, but several post-competition interviews revealed athletes inner-most thoughts, dreams, feelings of disappointment and, in many cases, their self-belief for the future. Andrea has been on a difficult journey, but we loved her perspective and the way she spoke to herself. Strong and vulnerable.

Mothering role models

This Olympics showed us that a sports career does not have to stop when women become parents. From Team GB’s Helen Glover (see her here in 2020 for WAGIS) to US basketball athlete Brittney Griner; from X to X, we have witnessed dazzling performances from women who have juggled training for the games with parenthood.

The Athlete’s Village had a nursery for the first time and we had examples of women competing whilst pregnant: Nada Hafez was seven months pregnant whilst fencing at the Olympics while Azerbaijan’s Yaylagul Ramazanova felt her baby kick whilst participating in the archery competition.

All of these parents and parents to be are amazing role models. The days of women not being able to compete because we were too frail and sport would damage our physiology seem a very long time ago. Thanks goodness!

Olympics closing event

The men’s marathon is usually the last event of the Olympics but this year, for the first time, it was the women’s marathon that took this prestigious spot in the Games scheduling. This was apparently to recognise the gender balance of athletes. Dutch runner, Sifan Hassan, won the marathon (as well as medalling in the 5,000 and 10,000 metre races - wow!) and collected her gold whilst wearing a hijab. French athletes wishing to wear a hijab whilst competing were not allowed …

Image: Amada Ma via Unsplash

100m men’s final vs 100m women’s final

Whilst the women’s marathon was headline grabbing for all the right reasons, the men’s 100m final was not. To great fanfare, the men’s 100m final was heralded. Dimmed lights in the Stade du France, wristbands alight; music, hype, anticipation - this was all for the men’s 100m final. Had the women’s final in the same event received the same build up the night before? No it had not. There might be gender parity but there certainly wasn’t event parity.

Countries’ firsts

However, let’s forget the hype around staging - or lack of - and congratulate Julien Alfred, the fastest woman on the planet! She won St Lucia’s first ever gold medal which is amazing! But there were many firsts at these games for men and women including Thea LaFond for Dominica in the triple jump and Lin Yu-Ting winning Taiwan’s first boxing gold.

Boxing Not So Clever

Women’s boxing became ugly at the Paris Olympics due to disputes over gender. Algeria’s Imane Khelif and Yu-Ting of Taiwan came under incredible scrutiny due to misinformation despite passing all of the IOC’s gender tests. Like Yu-Ting, Imane Khelif won gold becoming the first Algerian, Arab and African woman to win an Olympic boxing gold medal. Congratulations to Imane and Lin!

Gymnastics at the Paris Olympics

While there were many sat at home with opinions on the women’s boxing, gymnastics performances had to be analysed and assessed within a minute, we’ve all learnt. Jordan Chiles and her USA team fell foul of this according to Team Romania with Chiles ultimately losing the bronze to Romanian gymnast Barbosu. It seems as though procedures were not followed by several gymnastic bodies and its the gymnasts that are suffering. Four years of hard work to end like this is hard to swallow.

On the flip (side), a memorable moment of the Games came when Brazil’s Rebeca Andrade won her country’s first Olympic gold medal for gymnastics on the floor. That is momentous enough - another first! - but Simone Biles and Jordan Chiles bowing down to her as she took to the podium is a wonderful demonstration of women supporting women. They were also celebrating the first medal ceremony made up of three Black women which is definitely worth celebrating.

These are just some of our Games notable moments for women’s sport, good and bad but there are many, many more great ones. What’s yours?

Bring on the Paralympics!